Winch provided with an automatic release at the end of the lifting operation



I .April 25, 1944 R. LAIQAQUE'` Y 2,347,569 D WITH AN AUTOMATIC RELEASE 0F THE LIFTING OPERATION Filed Oct. 17, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 WINCH PROVIDE AT THE END ...lli

/Mvlhom: /ff um April 25, 1944. R. LARAQUE 2,347,569 wINcH PROVIDED wITH AN AUTOMATIC RELEASE AT THE END oF `THE LIETING OPERATION Filed oet.. 17, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Rl L lWINCH PROVIDED WITH AN AUTOMATIC RELEASE AT THE END 0F THELIFTING OPERATION lFiled 0 01'.. 17, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Apr. 25, 1944 UNITED STATE WINCH PROVIDED` WITHl AN AUTOMATIC RELEASE AT THE END OF THE LIFTING OPERATION Roland Laraque, Paris, France; vested in the Alien Property Custodian Application October 17, 1939, Serial N0. 299,877 In Luxemburg October 28, 1938 (Cl. 25d-173) 4 Claims.

- The present invention has for its object a winch provided with automatic release at the end of the lifting operation which is applicable to the retraction of aeroplane undercarriages for example.

The various features of said invention will be made apparent in the ensuing description and with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 shows the winch in transverse section;

Fig. 2 shows a section along the line 2-2 passing through two different planes of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a section along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Figs. 4 and 5 are two fragmentary views showing the operation of the control device;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of part of the control device, a portion being broken away;

Fig. '7 is a vertical section on the line 'I--l of Fig. 6.

In one embodiment of the object of the invention, which is given simply by way of example, the winch is formed in the following manner.

On a shaft I (Fig. 1) which is driven by an electric or other motor through a Cardan joint 2, is fixed a rst clutch plate 3 with which a second plate 4 is adapted to come into contact.

This plate is provided with a stem 5 which is terminated by a collar 6 and which slides in a hollow shaft 'I provided with a worm 8. Said worm drives in a reversible manner a helical gear 9 fixed at I0 (Fig. 2) on a shaft II which carries the drum I2 of the winch. On said shaft I I is also fixed at I a ratchet wheel I3, the teeth of which are adapted to receive a pawl I4 which is controlled as follows.

Said pawl is preferably formed by a roller carried by a fork I which swings about a pin I6 on a crank I'I. Said crank is xed on a shaft I8 actuated by an operating lever I9 which may be directly controlled by hand or by means of any suitable remote transmission device.

The crank I1 is provided with a nose 2) on which is hooked a spring 2| acting on the fork I5, and the stay 22 which abuts against the crank so as to limit the return travel of the pawl and increases the resistance of same to the thrust of the teeth of the ratchet after the load has been lifted.

On the shaft IB are provided two arms 23 (Fig. 2) which, by means of projections 24, canact on a hollow pusher 25 and make it slide in bearings 26 (Fig. 1) of the case 21 which houses the whole mechanism. Said pusher is retracted to a rear position by a spring 28.

In the pusher can slide a catch 29 provided with a slot 30 into which can be inserted the bolt 3l of a lock 32 which passes through the pusher perpendicular to its axis.

The catch 29 is in contact, at one of its ends, with a spacingbar 33 provided with a collar 34 against which bears a spring 35 that bears, at its other end, against the collar Ii ofthe stem of the clutch plate 4. A spring 36, which bears against the other face of said collar is kept inside the hollow shaft 'I by a nut 31 screwed in the latter and exerts an opposing action to the spring 35, but weaker than that of the spring 35.

The length of the spring 35 is such that its action on the stem 5 is nil or almost nil when the catch 29 is at the end of its rearward travel. The spring 36 then predominates and acts on the stem 5 to separate the plate 4 from the plate 3.

Now, the position of the catch 29 depends on the relative positions of the pusher 25 and of the lock 32.

The lock 32 terminates in a jaw 38 in which a fork '$9 can act on it through a pin 45. Said fork is secured to a shaft 4I that a spring 42 tends to rotate to lift the lock 32. On said shaft is xed a lever 43, at the end of which is pivoted, by means of a jaw 44, a lever 45 (Fig. 3) of which the end is provided with a projection 46. Said projection engages in a spiral groove 4l provided in a plate 48 secured to the gear 9. In the embodiment shown and considered preferable, the projection 46 is double and engages, on either side of the lever 45, in two spiral grooves 41 which are opposite each other and are formed in two identical plates 43.

Said plates are secured to the gear 9 by screws 49 which enable the plates to be given a suitable direction relatively to the gear.

In each groove 4l can be xed an adjustably positioned'abutment 5t against which the projection 46 is adapted to abut after having travelled in the groove a distance which depends on a predetermined number of revolutions effected by theplates 48 with the gear 9 and the drum I2.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows:

When the winch is inoperative, it is released and the load is at its low point. The mechanism is then placed in the position shown in Fig. l. The lock 32 is `lifted and secures the catch 29 to the pusher 25 which is in its extreme rearward position under the action of its spring 28. The plates 3 and 4 are kept apart by the spring 36.

The operating lever I9 is placed in the position I and the pawl I4 is raised. As regards the projection 46 of the level` 45, it is in its extreme position in the grooves 41 towards the centre of the plates 48.

As soon as the operating lever I9 is acted on and brought into the raising position II (Fig. 4), the arms 23 (Fig. 2) actuate the pusher 25 and 5 compress the lspring 28. The pusher is in this case accompanied by the catch 29 which is secured thereto by the bolt 3l of the lock 32. The catch then acts on the spacing bar 33 which compresses the spring 35 which in turn overcomes the resistance of the spring 36 and brings the plate 4 into contact with the plate 3 that is actuated by the motor.

The clutch is thus engaged and the worm 8 drives the drum I2 by means of the gear 9 and j of the shaft I I. y

While the load is being raised, the plates 48 rotate with the gear 9 and the projection 46 follows the grooves 41 of these latter until it abuts against the abutment i). This instant must correspond to that at which the load occupies its highest position and this coincidence is obtained by suitably positioning the abutment 5D.

When said abutment comes into contact with the projection 45, the plates continue to rotate and thus move said projection along a certain length of an arc. By so doing, they act on the lever d5 which causes the lever 43 to pivot with its shaft 4I. The fork 39 is then lowered with the lock 32, the bolt 3| of which leaves the slot 30 of the catch 29. From this instant onwards, the spring 35 can push back the spacing bar 33 which returns the catch to its inoperative position.

The spring 35 is then relaxed and the spring SB acts on the stem 5 of the plate 4 and separates same from the plate 3. The winch is thus released and its various elements occupy the positions shown in Fig. 5.

During its operation, the ratchet I3 was r'otating in the direction of the arrow f, and lifted with each of its teeth the pawl I4. As soon as the winch is released, the load exerts its pull on the Vdrum and rotates the ratchet I3 in the direction of the arrow f' so that one of the teeth abuts against the pawl, the stay 2'2- of which is resting on the crank I'I. Any rotation of the drum in this direction is thus made impossible and the load is locked at its highest point.

In order to lower the load, the operating lever ie is brought into the position I. The pusher is then brought backwards and the pawl I4 is lifted as in Fig. 1. The ratchet is released and the load can then move downwards, rotating the drum I3.

In order to reduce the downward speed to a suitable value, the shaft II is provided with a governor formed by a piston 5I that moves in a cylinder 52 along a screw 53 driven by said shaft.

rThe cylinder is lled with oil and the piston 5i is provided with openings 54. Flap valves 55 are furthermore arranged in said piston.

When the shaft I I is driven by the motor, the oil can pass through the vpiston by way of the openings 54 and the valves 55 and thus oiers no resistance to the forward 'movement of `the piston along the screw 53. y

On the contrary, when the shaft II is driven by the load, the oil only passes through the openings 5a and offers a fairly large resistance to the rnc-vement of the piston which thus brakes the rotation of the Screw 53. v

This speed damper may moreover be replaced 75 by any similar device and the apparatus described above may be subjected to any modications of shape and of detail Without for that reason departing from the spirit of the invention.

It is obvious that this winch may be used for manipulating any load and in particular whenever the lowering of such load is to be ensured in any case.

What I claim is:

1. In a winch, the combination of a drum; a gear for actuating said drum; driving means for said gear; a clutch for said driving means; slidable means for engaging and disengaging said clutch; manually actuated means to slide said slidable means in one direction to engage said clutch; resilient means to slide said slidable means-in the opposite direction to disengage said clutch, said resilient means being energized by said manually actuated means; and locking means to .prevent the operation of said resilient mea-ns, said locking means being released by the opera-tion of the drum, to cause said resilient means to disengage the clutch according to the determined degree of hoist of lthe load by the winch.

2. In a winch, the combination 0f a drum; a gear for actuating said drum; driving means for said gear; a clutch for said driving means; slidable means for engaging and disengaging said clutch; manually actuated means to slide said slidable means in one direction to engage said clutch; resilient means to slide said slidable means in the opposite direction to disengage said clutch, said resilient means being energized by said manually actuated means; locking means to prevent the operation of said resilient means, said locking means being released by the operation of the drum, to cause said resilient means to disengage the clutch according to the determined degree of hoist of the load by the winch; and means operated by said manually actuated engaging means, to control the rotation of Ythe drum when theclutch ris disengaged.

'3. In a winch, the combination of a drum; a gea-r' for actuating said drum; driving means for said gear; a clutch for said driving means comprising cci-acting members, one of which is slidably mounted and provided with a` stem; aspr-ing associated with said stem and adapted to move said slidable clutch member inte disengaged position; a casi-ng; a cylinder slidably mounted in said casing; manual means for sliding said cylinder; a bolt slidably -mounted in said cylinder; a latch reciprocably mounted said cylinder 'for detachably connecting said bolt with said cylinder; connecting means between said bolt and 'said stem adapt-ed to move said slidable clutch member into engaged pcsition, and to compress said spring when -said bolt is connected with said cylinder and said cylinder is moved by said manual means; and operating means mounted in said casing for moving said latch to disconnect said bolt from said cylinder and permit expansion of the spring to vdisengage the 'clutchmembera said last mentioned means being actuated by said drum so that the' clutch is disengaged according to the determined degree of hoist of the load by the Winch.

4. In a winch, the combination ci' a drum; a gear for actuating said drum; driving means for said gear; a clutch rfor said driving means comprising co-acting members, one of which is s'lidably mounted and provided with a stem; a spring associated with said .stem and adapted to move said slidable clutch member Vinto dis-v engaged position; a casing; a cylinder slidably mounted in said casing; manual means for sliding said cylinder; a bolt slidably mounted in said cylinder; a latch reciprocably mounted on said cylinder for detachably connecting said bolt with said cylinder; connecting means between said bolt and said stem adapted to move said slidable clutch member into engaged position, and to compress said spring when said bolt is connected with said cylinder and said cylinder is moved by said manual means; operating means mounted in said casing for moving said latch to disconnect said 'bolt from said cylinder and permit expansion of the spring to disengage the clutch members, said last mentioned means being actuated by said drum so that the clutch is disengaged according to the determined degree of hoist of the load by the winch; a ratchet on said drum; and a pawl adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with said ratchet by said manually actuated cylinder sliding means, the parts being so related that, when the pawl engages the ratchet, the drum can rotate to raise the load and is prevented from reverse rotation to lower the load, and, when the pawl is disengaged from therratchet, the drum can rotate to lower the load.

ROLAND LARAQUE. 

